Did Joe Biden Forget Kamala Harris Is A Black Woman Senator?

The fifth Democratic presidential debate was cordial and predominantly respectful up until the last 15-or-so minutes, once former Vice President Joe Biden began talking about race.


It began as soon as Senator Cory Booker was pressed on a question about President Donald Trump’s recommended border wall. He answered the question before pivoting back to discussing the significance of Black voters and, specifically, weed legalization.


"This week I hear [Biden] literally mention that [he] doesn’t think we should legalize weed the New Jersey senator mentioned, referring to Biden, who earlier this week falsely called the substance a "gateway drug." "I thought you may have been high any time once you mentioned it."


In response, things... Well, got weird. Biden appeared to reverse his position on weed legislation, and then mentioned, "I’m segment of that Obama coalition. I come out of the Black community in terms of my support. In the event you notice, I have more people supporting me in the Black community because they know me. They know who I am. Three former chairs of the Black caucus. The only African-American woman who'd ever been elected To the United States Senate," ostensibly referring to former Senator Carol Moseley Braun.


Except... She was not the only Black woman ever elected to the Senate, and both Booker and Senator Kamala Harris caught him in the gaffe immediately.


"That’s not true," Booker said.


"The other one is here," Harris mentioned, laughing and shrugging.


"I mentioned the initial Biden added. He did not mention the first.


Biden currently leads the 2020 candidates in terms of support from Black voters — yet experts strongly warn against corralling Black voters as a monolith. A YouGov poll offered to MTV News suggested that Black females voters are more likely to vote based on the issues that matter to their survival, and the New York Times found that young Black voters have been hard at work attempting to influence their families away from the former Vice President, who has often been criticized of using his proximity to President Barack Obama as a selling point.


Wednesday's debate isn't the opening time Biden has sparred with Harris or Booker on race while in the Democratic debates. During the second democratic debate on June 27, Harris told Biden: "I don't believe you're a racist. And I agree with you while you commit yourself to the promise of finding usual ground. However I also believe, and it’s personalized. It was hurtful to hear you talk about the reputations of two United States senators who built their reputations and careers on the segregation of race in this country."


Harris was referencing Biden's working relationship with two segregationist Democrats, and continued to mention that he worked with them to oppose bussing. "There was a little bit girl in California who was piece of the second class to develop public schools. And she was bussed to school day-to-day. And that little girl was me."


Harris was referring to a move Biden made while in the 1970s that prevented the Department of Education from integrating school busing. In response, Biden mentioned "It’s a mischaracterization of my position across the board. I did not praise racists. That isn't true."


Immediately after a long back and forth, Harris said there was a "failure of states to implement public schools In the United States. I was segment of the second class to implement Berkley California Public Schools almost two decades after Brown V. Education."


"Because your city council made that decision," Biden said.


"That’s once the federal government has to step in," Harris mentioned. "That’s why we have the voting rights act and the Civil Rights Act. That’s why we need to pass the Equality Act. That’s why we need to pass the ERA. Because there really are moments in history where states fail to sustain the civil rights of all people"


Biden cut himself off. "Anyway, my time’s up."